As an anthology series, each season of "True Detective" should be viewed as its own distinct and separate entity. But conversely, we have no point of comparison for this show except what has come before. It's a structural conundrum that is both liberating and fettering season two. This new installment stands alone and yet it is impossible not to compare it with its predecessor. The first season was a burst of heat and electricity akin to the moments right before a thunder storm in summer. But this second season is more of a light downpour. Paul's girlfriend asks him point blank mid episode what he's doing and he doesn't have an answer for her. Should viewers be concerned that the same applies for "True Detective?"
Last night's episode "Night Finds You" opens with Frank on an existential note. It's nice to see Vince Vaughn so restrained for once, but he can't deliver showrunner Nic Pizzolatto's heavy handed dialogue as convincingly as Matthew McConaughey. Still, the content of his monologue is what catches your attention.
"Everything is paper mache," Frank muses. He's speaking to the delicate nature of his empire and to the identity he has forged for himself. As a child, his father would lock him in the basement during his drinking benders. One time, Frank was left there for five lonely, hungry and dark days. This season is emphasizing familial relationships and Frank's engine of motivation may be a desire to never feel as powerless as he did in that basement ever again. He's transformed himself into a feared gangster (a term used as a verbal jab instead of a moniker of respect in this episode) but that scared little boy is still somewhere inside. We catch a glimpse of him as Frank returns to the low brow thuggery he's trying to escape from out of desperation.
"Casper died with my money in his pocket," Frank tells the mayor who is sucking down cocktails like a fish breathes water. Gone with Casper, the kinky civil servant whose murder is the catalyst for this season, is $5 million of Frank's money and the framework of a land deal that would launch his corrupt organization into legitimacy. To make matters worse, the Mayor is entertaining outside interests to replace Frank, whose entire livelihood was tied up in this deal.
As Frank wallows in a moment of sharp self-awareness in the opening scene, director Justin Lin's camera probes the empty rooms of his home. Each room is still, undisturbed by the energy of children, something Frank and his wife are trying for. In this moment, he must realize that he doesn't even have an heir to pass along his crumbling kingdom to.
But Frank isn't the only character under a cloud. Each of our three detectives is put into interestingly difficult scenarios. The powers that be want to use them for their own purposes. The attorney general is investigating the widespread corruption within the city of Vinci, the local governments are trying to cover their tracks and Frank just wants this whole mess sorted out. Our "protagonists" are caught in an intricately woven web of alternative agendas and motives and each is tasked with hiding the truth from one another. But can they hide the truths from themselves?
Paul shares a story of almost striking a gay man. At first glance, it comes across as blatant homophobia. But then Paul visits his mother and there is this strange energy between the two, as if something is off and the viewer (and Paul himself) can feel it. After getting settled in a L.A. hotel following an emotionally detached breakup with his girlfriend, Paul stares off the balcony at a gay couple on the street. Are his harsh remarks just a deflection of his own sexuality like Colonel Fitts in "American Beauty?" Or has he suffered some type of sexual abuse/manipulation at the hands of his mother like Jimmy Darmody in "Boardwalk Empire?" There's something there, we just don't know what it is yet. Either way, Paul represents a new commentary on the idea of masculinity in today's world.
Much of last night's episode was devoted to the pairing of Ray and Ani, both of whom are struggling through their own family issues. Ray's ex-wife is trying to gain sole custody of their son while Ani continues to be reminded of her troubled upbringing. But that is just the surface.
Ray stopped following his moral compass long ago and his son represents the decent man he may have once been. In that regard, Ray may be more distraught over losing the idea that there is still good in him as opposed to losing his actual son. Ani, meanwhile, tries to push the past behind her but there may be a kernel of truth in what her father said to her last week. Her entire personality could be an overcorrection to her dysfunctional childhood, meaning she isn't ignoring the past, she is ruled by it.
Pizzolatto made his name with his two-cops-in-a-car routine last season. Although this new iteration lacks the same snap, crackle and pop, I enjoyed the scene between Ray and Ani last night. Two detectives with two different agendas, presumably working one another to a certain extent, and yet a bit of sincerity passes between the two. "We get the world we deserve," Ray says in his best Rust Cohle impression. Ani later asks how compromised Ray really is. The ironic truth is that they are all compromised in one way or another and all that baggage will either bring them together or lead to their collective downfall.
Maybe that sense of all-encompassing impending doom is what spurs Ray to tell Frank that he's done; a last minute attempt at decency, perhaps. But Frank isn't buying it. Although Ray leaves Frank's dirty money behind, he's still willing to check out Casper's secret apartment for his friend/controller. On the floor is a pool of blood. On the wall are exotic animal masks, cluing us in to the killer's raven/crow get-up from last week. Another hint: the killer is right behind Ray. He (she?) fires once, then again. Are we really to believe that Colin Farrell only got two episodes worth of action this season? Probably not. But how many people do you know survive a point blank shot gun blast? Either way, a very exciting finish to the episode.
It's still early, but this season of "True Detective" has been weighed down a bit by its slow pace and purposely confusing elements. It's good for a show to reveal characters piece by piece and force the audience to think and ask questions. But last season, fans were lost in the mysterious occult and Rust's pseudo-philosophical drug flashbacks. Everything surrounding that was pretty easily understood after a time. Two episodes in this year, and what is supposed to be straightforward is anything but. I give Pizzolatto credit for zagging when we all expected a zig, but sooner or later you're going to lose your audience if your story degenerates into confusing, self-important goop.
Random Thoughts
-This episode touched on the masks people wear to disguise themselves and I thought that played into the varying motivations of each of our characters. Is it at all possible that one of them is the killer? Most likely not. But thought it was interesting nonetheless.
-Why does the bar that Frank and Ray meet at only employ sad guitar players as entertainment? Is everyone allergic to smiles in this series? Give it a rest, sweetheart.
-Watching Ray compare an E-Cigarette to a robot's phallic genitalia was...entertaining?
-I can't yet decipher what the killer's motivation is. Exposing the widespread corruption of Venci? Fighting against sexual depravity? Just really into bird masks? I got nothing.
-Here's last week's recap of "True Detective." Writer Nicholas Parco and I will be switching off every week.
